As a child, I looked at a heating vent in the floor of my house and thought I can pour water down that. And so I did. Gathering water from the bathroom sink into my cup, I delicately poured water down the heating vent and walked away, proud of my achievement.

A few days later, I discovered a glossy bead near the heating vent. The vent had left me a gift of appreciation! In a feat of logic straight from Alice in Wonderland, I reasoned pouring water down the vent created this bead. So naturally, I poured more water down the vent.

To my disappointment, my alchemy did not yield many beads. I do recall finding another bead near the vent. However, I could not figure out, for the life of me, how I created it! Perhaps colder water, or hotter water? Maybe I needed to pour slower, or faster? Which vent did I get the bead from again? Eventually, unable to decipher the Secret of the Beads, and not finding much use for beads anyway, I moved onto another adventure.

Over hotpot today, I recalled this story to my sister. She helpfully remembered that growing up she liked to make bracelets. She had a kit of beads and string, and certainly some of those beads could have fallen to the floor near the vent.

For my part, I cannot, for the life of me, tell if this memory comes from real life or a dream. Perhaps I should pour water down a heating vent.